The shortage of resources for providing good quality lumber to be used for domestic purposes, such as solid hardwood floors, has forced the pricing of such products to be high. In response to these high costs, attempts have been made to manufacture wood flooring panels from other less expensive resources. Flooring panels manufactured using these types of wood typically comprise a core layer constructed from a plurality of single rotary cut sheets of veneer or the like. These sheets are layered on top of each other such that the grain directions thereof are perpendicular to one another to impart strength and rigidity, and bonded together. Additionally, a single rotary cut or strand board veneer sheet made from the same or different wood material, may be bonded on the surface of these core panels to provide an aesthetic finish, as disclosed in Iwata et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,026.
However, upon manufacturing floor panels from individual sheets as described above, some amount of shrinkage of the sheets typically occurs from the effects of weather and aging after completion of the manufacturing process, and after the panels have been placed for use. Further, due to the above effects, the panels tend to move and create cracks or crevices in the floor. This leads to instability in the flooring and sometimes buckling of the individual floor panels. Further, although these types of wood flooring materials can provide rigidity similar to solid hardwood floor boards, when the various adjacent layers are positioned with their grain directions at 90 degrees with respect to one another, additional drawbacks occur. These drawbacks include a lack of flexibility in the finished product.
Thus, in the wood flooring industry, there is a need for affordable flooring panels having the strength found in hardwood flooring panels, with a greater amount of stability, flexibility, and high quality surface finish.